I'm trying to decide between Emory and Fordham. Does anyone have any insight? I do want to work in New York after I graduate, so does it make sense to go to school in a completely different region? Or does Emory's national reputation cancel out that factor? Emory's drop in rankings does concern me though... Help please! Thanks!!

drummerboy wrote:emory is a national school. it has alumni in most states. emory ,what national reputation? is an ignorant rhetorical question by a typical self righteous/ jaded TLS user.

Just because certain regional schools are known outside of their region and have placed a small portion of their graduates outside that region does not make them national. They are still regional schools placing the vast majority of their graduates into their respective regions.

Anybody going to a regional school with the intention of using some ill perceived national prestige to help them get a job elsewhere is an idiot.

Moved for you, OP. You would be silly not to come here for NYC, though Emory has recognition in a lay sense. You still need to look at the hiring behavior of legal recruiters and what will maximize your chances at your chosen market. Emory does not deserve all the shit it gets but will still make your life more difficult if you know you want an NYC job. Go to a T14, the best regional school in your market, or someplace very cheap.

I had this very convo with a recruiting officer from a big NYC firm where a family friend is a partner. She said of Emory that I could get back to NYC over Notre Dame and others if I do well, but she said that Fordham is much better for NYC - like not even a question better.

Emory does open up the south for you (whatever market is left) from Atlanta down to Miami.

But if you want to work in NYC, Fordham is bar none the right call here. Fordham is a major player in NYC. If your goal is NYC, not only is Fordham head and shoulders TCR over Emory, but:

Fordham > any non t-14.

Emory can get you back to NYC, but you'd need to do really well.

Vice versa, though, Fordham prob isn't getting you to Atlanta.

However, I disagree with some posters about Fordham not being worth sticker. I think Emory and Fordham are about = personally. Emory's employment #'s scare me, but Atlanta is pretty cool.

drummerboy wrote:emory is a national school. it has alumni in most states. emory ,what national reputation? is an ignorant rhetorical question by a typical self righteous/ jaded TLS user.

Just because certain regional schools are known outside of their region and have placed a small portion of their graduates outside that region does not make them national. They are still regional schools placing the vast majority of their graduates into their respective regions.

Anybody going to a regional school with the intention of using some ill perceived national prestige to help them get a job elsewhere is an idiot.

This statement isn't categorically true. Of course you'd be better off going to Emory vs. (say) U. Maryland for the NYC market. The first school is better, and employers know that.

The statement applies perfectly for the OP though, who is considering choosing a school in a remote location over a similarly regarded school in the market he's targeting. Even among the T13s, I think you'd be foolish to bet that way.

Ok, thanks everyone. I appreciate the honesty (even if some are a little more aggressive than others). For a little more context, the national reputation is probably due more to undergrad (top 20 vs. top 60 school here) which shouldn't really factor in anyways. But last year, Emory Law was ranked 22 and Fordham 34, and I do see that as a difference. And people are always saying that rank matters... but I guess no one else sees a big difference between the two, which is good to know.

I was also give a scholarship to Emory and it seems like they have a really strong alumni network in NYC (even if it is smaller), so that's weighing on me as well.

beatle1211 wrote:Ok, thanks everyone. I appreciate the honesty (even if some are a little more aggressive than others). For a little more context, the national reputation is probably due more to undergrad (top 20 vs. top 60 school here) which shouldn't really factor in anyways. But last year, Emory Law was ranked 22 and Fordham 34, and I do see that as a difference. And people are always saying that rank matters... but I guess no one else sees a big difference between the two, which is good to know.

I was also give a scholarship to Emory and it seems like they have a really strong alumni network in NYC (even if it is smaller), so that's weighing on me as well.

beatle1211 wrote:Ok, thanks everyone. I appreciate the honesty (even if some are a little more aggressive than others). For a little more context, the national reputation is probably due more to undergrad (top 20 vs. top 60 school here) which shouldn't really factor in anyways. But last year, Emory Law was ranked 22 and Fordham 34, and I do see that as a difference. And people are always saying that rank matters... but I guess no one else sees a big difference between the two, which is good to know.

I was also give a scholarship to Emory and it seems like they have a really strong alumni network in NYC (even if it is smaller), so that's weighing on me as well.

The bolded depends. General TLS wisdom is rank matters when differentiating between T14 (or sometimes a few outside T14) and the rest, it matters when you're talking about a TTT (or, God forbid, a T4), and it matters when differentiating between HYS and the bottom of the T14. That being said, 22 v. 34, 45 v. 72, 70 v. 94 doesn't matter very much, unless you're talking schools in the same market. Emory and Fordham feed different markets. Do a surprising portion of Emory kids go to NYC? Yes, but it's because (1) Emory has a disproportionate amount of NY kids; and (2) those kids don't want to live down South. I would comment on the socioeconomic factor at play with Emory kids, too, but I think it's less of a factor than the above.

rank matters, but not differences such as 22 v. 34. The way employers view rank is: HYS, then rest of t14, giving little to no thought between school number 4 and school number 14. If you dont get into one of these then go to a school in the city/very close proximity in which you want to practice. In this case Fordham for NYC, Emory for Atl.

Emory/fordham are not "national law schools" in the sense that neither will impress a firm outside of its market in the way a trully national school like yale will. For every region there will be a comparable school to emory, there is no comparison for yale.

Look Emory trolls, there is no debate that Harvard, Yale, Chicago, Columbia, Michigan, even Georgetown are national schools. But when you get to Vanderbilt and Texas there starts to be a small question. Certainly when you drop down to the 30s or wherever Emory is there is no question that it is not a national school. Look at its peer schools. WUSTL, Fordham, BU, BC, whatever. These are not national schools. Just the fact that this issue is debatable should end it right there. There are no threads discussing whether Harvard is a national school. There simply is no doubt. Lower tier 1 schools may be DESTINATION schools because people do come from across the country to attend them, but attracting a 3.6, 165 student from Kalamazoo who got shut out of Vanderbilt does not do anything to raise Emory's prominence. Being a destination school does not equate to being a national school. These threads are filled with people ready to hop around the country to attend NYLS, Stetson, etc. These are destination schools too nowadays, if that helps put things in perspective.

MrAnon wrote:Look Emory trolls, there is no debate that Harvard, Yale, Chicago, Columbia, Michigan, even Georgetown are national schools. But when you get to Vanderbilt and Texas there starts to be a small question. Certainly when you drop down to the 30s or wherever Emory is there is no question that it is not a national school. Look at its peer schools. WUSTL, Fordham, BU, BC, whatever. These are not national schools. Just the fact that this issue is debatable should end it right there. There are no threads discussing whether Harvard is a national school. There simply is no doubt. Lower tier 1 schools may be DESTINATION schools because people do come from across the country to attend them, but attracting a 3.6, 165 student from Kalamazoo who got shut out of Vanderbilt does not do anything to raise Emory's prominence. Being a destination school does not equate to being a national school. These threads are filled with people ready to hop around the country to attend NYLS, Stetson, etc. These are destination schools too nowadays, if that helps put things in perspective.

Emory is not a national law school. It is at best a regional school. But in the medical/biological sciences, business, certain social sciences and liberal arts, it has national rapport. To be honest, it's (pretty decent) law school is probably its weakest professional grad school.

Also the idiocy of assuming something is a national school or not based on the US News rankings is also borderline retarded. There are far too many exceptions to that rule than I can state in a post.

Emory is better than Fordham, but Fordham is better for working in NYC, by a large margin, just think about it, it's in NYC and there are a lot of Fordham grads at NYC firms. An Emory degree will travel better than say a University of Georgia degree, but its best potential is in its hometown market (true of almost any non T14/T10 school).

I don't agree with this. I mean, it's irrelevant to this thread b/c obviously Fordham > Emory for NYC, but I personally would rather have an Emory degree than a Fordham degree looking for work in a neutral market like Chicago or northern California.

flcath wrote:I don't agree with this. I mean, it's irrelevant to this thread b/c obviously Fordham > Emory for NYC, but I personally would rather have an Emory degree than a Fordham degree looking for work in a neutral market like Chicago or northern California.

You'd also be an idiot to go to Emory over, oh, I don't know, Illinois if you want to go to Chicago or one of the Cali schools for Cali.

flcath wrote:I don't agree with this. I mean, it's irrelevant to this thread b/c obviously Fordham > Emory for NYC, but I personally would rather have an Emory degree than a Fordham degree looking for work in a neutral market like Chicago or northern California.

You'd also be an idiot to go to Emory over, oh, I don't know, Illinois if you want to go to Chicago or one of the Cali schools for Cali.

Yeah well no shit.

What I'm talking about is only really relevant for those who don't know where they want to go / need to change their mind during LS (due to an engagement, etc.).

flcath wrote:I don't agree with this. I mean, it's irrelevant to this thread b/c obviously Fordham > Emory for NYC, but I personally would rather have an Emory degree than a Fordham degree looking for work in a neutral market like Chicago or northern California.

You'd also be an idiot to go to Emory over, oh, I don't know, Illinois if you want to go to Chicago or one of the Cali schools for Cali.

Yeah well no shit.

What I'm talking about is only really relevant for those who don't know where they want to go / need to change their mind during LS (due to an engagement, etc.).

So, what did you not agree with? Because you didn't quote anything. You just made up your own hypothetical without telling anybody where it was coming from, so I was assuming it had some kind of connection to the topic at hand. Which, apparently, it doesn't. I guess I should have noticed you saying it's irrelevant to this thread. Apologies for trying to read relevance into your off-topic musings.